Rep. Greg Casar and Elon Musk bring Texas clash to D.C. stage

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It’s a Texas-against-Texas messaging game in Washington, D.C., between Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, and Elon Musk.

Casar, whose district includes Musk’s largest factory, uses his progressive Capitol Hill platform to condemn Musk’s work to shrink the federal government while Musk’s companies benefit from federal contracts.

“We're not going to quit until he's fired,” Casar said in an interview with The Texas Tribune.

Musk leads a Trump administration project, labeled the Department of Government Efficiency, to make large cuts of the federal workforce and government spending.

“If we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt,” Musk said during the first Trump cabinet meeting this year.

DOGE says it has saved the federal government $105 billion through shrinking the federal workforce, canceling contracts and other moves, but that number has been widely disputed.

Casar’s scrutiny of Musk started long before Musk first appeared at a Trump rally.

When the future congressman was serving on the Austin city council, he said he was critical of the Tesla factory that was going through the city approval process. While Musk was asking for tax breaks from the city, Casar was asking questions about worker safety rules and pay.

The factory – called Giga Texas – opened in April 2022 to build Cybertrucks and the Model Y. It has come under public scrutiny after multiple workers filed complaints against the company over what they said were dangerous working conditions.

After he won a seat in Congress in 2022, Casar called for an investigation by the Department of Labor on reported wage thefts and safety violations.

In February, he called on the Department of Labor to release the investigation into the August death of an electrician at Giga Texas.

“An electrician's death should not be ignored simply because the CEO at the top has lots of money and powerful connections,” Casar wrote in a letter to Scott Ketcham, a deputy assistant secretary of labor whose area is worker safety.

The U.S. Department of Labor, responding to questions, said that the investigation has concluded and that Tesla is contesting violations in the August case, but provided no details on the violations. Tesla did not respond to emails from The Texas Tribune about this incident.

After the 2024 election, Casar made clear that he agreed with the sentiment that the Democratic Party needs to reorient to focus on working-people issues.

“If the Democratic Party wants to reclaim our mantle as the party of all working people, then we have to stand up to the Elon Musks of the world,” Casar said.

Casar became the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus in December and began focusing the messaging of the caucus, and his own speeches, on Musk’s actions to reshape the federal government and possible conflicts of interests.

Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, companies that have received about $38 billion in government funding.

The lawmaker used the slogan “Fire Elon Musk” during a Feb. 5 House Committee on Oversight hearing. At the hearing, the committee rejected a motion along party lines to subpoena Musk to appear in front of the committee.

“Republicans ran cover for him, they want him in the White House tweeting,” Casar said during the hearing.

The Republican chair of the oversight committee, Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, pointed a finger back at the Democrats, saying they should have called on Musk to serve as their hearing witness.

House DOGE Subcommittee chair Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, denounced Casar’s message to fire Elon Musk.

“It's just not going to happen,” Greene told The Texas Tribune on Tuesday.

She added that the “American people love DOGE” and that she doesn’t hear anyone complaining about Musk’s alleged conflicts of interest other than Democrats and the press.

The day after the oversight hearing, Casar held a Capitol Hill news conference with fellow progressive members of the U.S. House.

“Elon Musk has got to go,” Illinois Rep. Chuy García said at the event.

Since then, other Democratic leaders and activists around the country have also shared the message – chanting and holding signs that read “Fire Elon Musk.”

Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, said it’s important for progressives to speak out about Musk because the frustration with what he is doing inside the government crosses party lines – especially when it comes to concerns about DOGE team members’ access to sensitive financial information.

“This is a person who symbolizes all that is wrong with the system right now,” Balint said in an interview.

Musk, in an appearance with Joe Rogan, sought to diminish concerns about DOGE employees by arguing that they go through clearances just like any other government employee.

Casar told the Texas Tribune in early February that there are a number of ways to pressure Musk: a legal requirement from Congress, public pressure, and the anti-corruption laws that apply to federal employees. Casar also said Republicans will start stepping back if Democrats refuse to support bills by Republicans who back Musk’s involvement with the government.

Last week, the White House downplayed Musk’s role with the Department of Government Efficiency, noting that Musk is an adviser to the president and not a federal employee.

Casar is also a member of the oversight committee’s subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency. The lawmaker has used this platform to highlight his problems with Musk’s moves to shrink the federal government and to imply that Musk’s companies are receiving special treatment from the White House.

This includes President Donald Trump’s firing of 17 inspector generals – officials embedded within federal agencies to identify fraud and abuse– during his first week in office. Five, Casar said, were looking into Musk’s companies.

In a Jan. 25 press gaggle, Trump called the firing of inspector generals a “very common thing to do.”

Musk called Casar a “big fat liar,” on X, formerly Twitter, after the congressman posted an NPR article about a move by the State Department to award Tesla a $400 million government contract, an effort now on hold.

While Casar hasn’t pushed for current Musk company contracts to be canceled, he called for limits on any role for Musk at agencies that provide money to companies he controls.

“The federal government should be giving contracts to companies based on their performance and based on taxpayers needs, not based on how powerful the man is that leads those companies,” Casar said. He was more blunt Tuesday evening. At Trump’s joint address to Congress, which Musk attended, Casar held up a sign with the words “Musk Steals” for the entire speech.

Trump, after an executive order signing on Feb. 18, told reporters that he would “not let there be any conflict of interest,” and that he told Musk not to have conflicts of interests. The president added that he wouldn’t let Musk do anything related to space.

Casar’s messaging has extended far beyond Capitol Hill. At his town hall in San Antonio on Feb. 22, Musk and government downsizing was the most common point of conversation.

Federal workers asked Casar about the legality of Musk’s role in the White House and other constituents asked Casar what they could do to combat Musk.

At town halls across the country, Musk was also a top conversation starter.

Balint, a member of the progressive caucus, said Casar’s messaging on Musk is hitting home across the country, even in Republican districts.

“They don't have a good answer, because there isn't a good answer,” Balint said about her Republican colleagues.

Casar has supported bills from progressive caucus members to make Musk follow conflict of interest rules, to divest from his companies that receive money from the federal government and to prevent Musk and non-Treasury Department employees or contractors from accessing the federal payment system. However, these bills are unlikely to pass this Republican-controlled Congress.

Casar says he will continue bringing attention to Musk’s moves until the executive is fired from the federal government.

“You need to call out the people who are screwing those everyday people over,” Casar said. “Nobody's doing that more clearly in the government and in business than Elon Musk.”

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